Means for tagging animals and particularly poultry



w. ASHTON 2,078,827

MEANS FOR TAGGING ANIMALS AND PARTICULARLY POULTRY April 27, 1937.

Filed on. 4, 1955 Patented Apr. 27, 1937 MEANS FOR TAGGING ANIMALS ANDPARTICULARLY POULTRY Ward Ashton, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, assignor toHenry G. Ketchum, Luzerne, N. Y.

Application October 4, 1935, Serial No. 43,630

In Canada 2 Claims.

This invention relates to means for tagging animals and particularlypoultry.

An object of the invention is to provide a simple form of tool throughwhich tags may be applied, for instance to the wings of poultry, in onesimple operation wherein the tag'mounted on the tool is clinched firmlyon the wing and the wing is preliminarily punched to receive the tag inthe same operation.

A further object of the invention is to provide a simplified tool, theworking part of which may readily be replaced if necessary.

A further object of the invention is to provide a simple and extremelyefiicient form of tag structure which will firmly remain on the partupon which it is clinched.

With these and other objects in view, the invention consists preferablyin a pair of pliers, the jaws of which move towards and away from eachother in parallel relation, the end of one jaw being provided with apunching die and the end of the other jaw carrying a co-operatingcutting and forming member which may take the form of a projectingcentrally bored pedestal formed with an upstanding annular cutting edgeand an annular trough or groove for deflecting portions of the tag toclinch them during the tagging operation.

Associated with the tool is a special form of tag having an orifice tocorrespond with the size of the punch, that part of the tag surroundingthe orifice having projecting prongs which are acted upon by the troughor groove of the pedestal to turn them back and clinch them, the taghaving projections in it in an area surrounding the orifice to cooperatewithrthe pointed projecting prongs when they are clinched, thus to holdthe tag firmly on the part on which it is mounted and clinched, as morefully described in the following specification and illustrated in theaccompanying drawing, in which,

Figure 1 is a plan view of the improved pliers.

Figure 2 is an enlarged sectional view of the jaws with the punch andpedestal mounted thereon.

Figure 3 is a fragmentary plan view of the lower jaw of the tool.

Figure 4 is a plan view of one form of tag.

Figure 5 is a plan view of an alternative form of tag.

Figure 6 is a plan view of the reverse side of a tag showing an openingof polygonal shape, and

Figure 7 is a plan view of the reverse side of a tag showing an openingsquare in shape.

Referring to the drawing, A indicates a suitable April 17, 1935 pair ofpliers having the jaws B which are mounted in parallel relation and movetowards and away from each other without changing this parallelposition. Pliers of this type are well known and usually employ springmeans suchas ID to return the pliers to their normal open posi-' tion.The jaws Bare spaced apart to a desired extent, jaw ll carrying asuitable projecting die or punch [2 which is of a length sufficient topenetrate the wings of poultry or the like and also to accommodate thethicknessof the tag. Jaw l 3 has mounted thereon a projecting pedestal.or cutting and forming member l l'which is centrally bored as at H: toreceive the punch or die I2 and to discharge punched material, saidmember being formed with an upstanding annular cutting edge l6 at thetop. The upper portion of the pedestal or cutting and forming member hasan enlarged head I! and between the cutting edge l6 and the outer edgeof the member a trough or rounded annular groove [8 is formed, thedefining walls of which slope upwardly on one side to the outer edge ofthe head and on the other slope upwardly towards the central bore toform the upstanding cutting edge. Thus,

when the pliers are operated, the wing or other member to which a tag isto be applied is cleanly punched, through the co-operation of thecutting edge IB and the punch or die l2, whereas at the same time a tagsuch as C carried by the punch or die I2 is projected through theopening formed in the wing or other member punched and projections onthe tag are clinched through contact with the curved surface of thegroove I8.

The tag may take any desirable form such as that illustrated in Figure 4or that illustrated in Figure 6, the only difierence being that the tagshown in Figure 4 carries a labelling tag l9 whereas the disclosure inFigure 6 is of disc-like form, the annular solid part of which receivesthe labelling data. In each case, however, the securing portion isformed with a central orifice 20 having a plurality of upstandingpointed projecting prongs 2| which, as shown in Figure 2, when mountedon the punch or'die l2 are designed to project downwardly towards thepart to which the tag is to be applied.

On further reference to Figure 2, it will be seen, as illustrated'indotted lines, that whenthe jaws of the pliers are brought together theprojecting prongs 2| of the tag will be clinched into the wing or thelike and, by perforating the tag as at 22 directly behind the projectingprongs 2| in such a manner that small upstanding projections are made onthe face of the tag, as shown in Figure 2, the points 2| will, when theyare turned backwardly, either enter into the orifices 22 or lie adjacentthereto so that between the upstanding projections around the orifices22 and the projecting prongs 2| the tag is very firmly clinched on itsmounting. Of course, the orifices 22 need not necessarily be placeddirectly behind the points 21- but they could be positioned opposite thespaces between the points 2| and still would function in an efficientmanner to provide for the firm holding of the tag on its mounting.

Of course, it will be obvious,v particularly having regard to Figures 4,6 and '7, that the opening in the tag may be of any suitable shape. In

Figure 4 a round Opening is shown, in- Figure 6 an octagonal opening andin Figure 7 a square opening. Other forms have not been illustratedsince this would be unnecessary.

The punch or die I 2 and the pedestal or cutting and forming member l4may be mounted on the jaws in any suitable manner, it being preferableto mountv them in such .a way that they may readily be removed ifdesired. In other words, they may be formed: with screw threaded shanksuchas indicated at 23 in Figure2 so. that ii,. for any reason, theseparts might have become damaged, they could be easily replaced. Thepunch and the opening in the pedestal or cutting. and forming membermay,v of course, take any suitable. shape to coincide with the shape ofthe, opening. formed in. the tags to be. applied.

It will be apparent in. the foregoing that I- have provided. means fortagging animals wherein the member to 'which the tag is applied isreadily punched and the tag applied to this member and firmly lockedthereon all in one operation, the punching and clinching taking placealmost simultaneously. It will be apparent also that the form of tag isa particularly efiicient one, having regard to the fact that it isreadily mounted such as in the manner described and will be very firmlyclinched or secured on the mounting.

Various modifications may be made in the invention. without-departingfrom the spirit thereof or the scope. of the claims and, therefore, theexact forms shown are to be taken as illustrative only and not in alimiting sense, and I desire that onlysuch limitations shall be placedthereon as are imposed by the prior art or are specifically set. forthin the appended claims.

What I claim as my invention is:-.-

1'. Means for tagging animals, comprising a tag having. an. orificetherein, said orifice being bordered by a plurality of projecting prongspunched from the tag. and a plurality of proiections punched inthe tagspaced from said prongs, said. prongs and. projections co-operati-ng tohold the tag, firmly on a mounting when said prongs are clinched.

2. The device as claimed in claim 1,. in which the number of theprojections correspondswi-th the number of prongs, said proiectionsbeing. in alignment with said prongs.

WARD ASHTON-

